by Judy Presley
I have wanted to join one of seeseatrips.com trips for the blind directed by Dave Kronk ever since I heard about this company at the ACB national convention in 2001. The trips are planned for the maximum enjoyment of the blind and vision impaired.
Our group converged in Dublin, Ireland from all parts of the U.S. We traveled by coach from the southwest of Ireland to the northeast and back again with many exciting and spectacular stops along the way. It was a fun and exciting seven days. We had a resident tour guide who gave us an extraordinary amount of information about Ireland as we rode along on our coach. We made lots of stops along the way with plenty of time to explore.
One of my favorite things was kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, which gave me the Irish gift of gab forever. We had to climb an ancient spiral staircase up five stories to the roof of a tower. There I had to lay flat on my back while they slid me over the edge to kiss the stone backward. It was a very frightening sensation but exhilarating.
My other favorite was our pub night that was held in a family-owned 250-year-old pub with a thatched roof. It only held 45 people, and there were 42 of us, so we had it all to ourselves. We had a guitar player who also entertained us with songs and comedy. When he played a bluegrass tune, I just had to get up and dance a jig.
I also enjoyed meeting other blind travelers from all over the U.S. I was especially impressed with those who had no sight at all but were brave enough to meet the challenge and adventure of traveling alone. I had my husband to help me along; others had friends and relatives to assist them. Our cheerful leader Dave Kronk kept us all in stitches as well as making sure everything went smoothly. It was the trip of a lifetime!